Margaret Sarah Carpenter

Margaret Sarah Carpenter (* 1793 in Salisbury, † November 13, 1872 in London) was an English painter.

Life and work

Margaret Carpenter was born in 1793 as a subsidiary of the main man Alexander Geddes and his wife Harriet Edison in Salisbury. There she gave birth early drawing lessons by a local teacher. From 1812, she painted portraits for which she received awards from the Royal Society of Arts in the following years. In 1814 she moved to London, where she exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy and established itself as a respected portrait painter. Between 1818 and 1866 she exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, but also the British Institution from.

In 1817 she married William Hookham Carpenter, who worked at the British Museum. Two of their children, William and Percy, were also painters later. She made known her sister Hariett with the painter William Collins, who then married in 1822. After her husband had gone into retirement in 1845, she provided the family with her painting. After the death of her husband in 1846 she received an annual pension of Queen Victoria.

Margaret Carpenter was a respected portrait painter. She painted over 250 portraits. Three of her works are now in the National Portrait Gallery.